Hey there, dental professionals and industry enthusiasts.
Picture this. It's October, and you're in the
middle of one of the most transformative
experiences of your career. You're at the Becker's
fall future of dentistry roundtable in the vibrant
city of Chicago, fresh off an incredible 3
days at the Hyatt Regency. Imagine yourself inspired
and invigorated after attending captivating keynote sessions by
none other than the legendary boxing world champion
and CEO, Lila Elite, and the extraordinary professional
basketball player, Caitlin Clark. See yourself engaged in
lively discussions, exchanging ideas, and collecting a stack
of business cards from fellow dental experts and
potential partners. You've networked with over 350
attendees and learned from more than 80 speakers
who are at the forefront of dental innovation.
You sat in on educational sessions exploring topics
that elevate dental care as a critical element
of whole person health. You've witnessed firsthand how
digital technology is revolutionizing
patient outcomes
and how both large DSOs and independent practices
are flourishing.
Get ready to transform your career and don't
miss out on this incredible opportunity. The Becker's
fall future of dentistry roundtable is from October
30th to November 1, 2024.
Get registered by going to beckersdental.com
and clicking on the events page.
Welcome everyone to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
I am Mariah Mohammed, writer and moderator with
Becker's Healthcare. And I'm thrilled to have with
me today doctor Gabriela Risco, partner and orthodontist
at Great Expressions Dental Centers. Gabriela, welcome to
the Becker's Healthcare podcast. We're very excited to
have you join us today. To get us
started, would you mind please introducing yourself and
telling us a bit about your background?
Yes. Well, thank you. I'm happy to be
here.
My name is doctor Gabriela Ritzko,
and I'm a partner and, orthodontist at Great
Expression
Dental Center.
So I've been there for
about 12 years, and it's been a wonderful
journey as,
I've sort of grown the orthodontics in the
northeast.
Prior to that, I
grew up outside of Boston, went to college
there, then made my way to New York
City where I, went to Columbia for dental
school.
And then I worked for a couple years
and did a residency in orthodontics at Yukon.
After that, I
came back to New York City where I
worked as an orthodontist in a multispecialty
group in the city, and I also worked
as an associate in,
in orthodontic practice. And then after a few
years,
you know, I realized that I didn't wanna
have my own practice necessarily, but I didn't
wanna, you know, be an associate
the whole time and,
you know, just work for someone else. So
I started exploring options,
and that's where,
you know, the DSO, Great Expressions,
was a,
great opportunity.
They had a, pathway to partnership model,
and it was something that really excited me.
And, we've grown, and it's been wonderful.
Wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you so much for giving
us that background. In 12 years, that's definitely
amazing. I'm sure you've learned a lot while
being there and continue to do so.
So being so well into here, what are
some of the biggest issues you're following at
dental?
Yeah. Well, I mean, I think one of
the biggest issues, you know, that a lot
of people are talking about is just
the labor shortages,
the staffing shortages
that have really, you know, sort of taken
off since COVID.
And that has led to
challenges within the workforce and a strain on
the current assistance, clinicians, team members there.
So I think,
people have to be mindful about how they
approach
hiring now where
they might not be able to get someone
for that full time position. So they have
to be creative and flexible to think, okay,
maybe we can get 2 people part time.
And so, you know, that's a very big
issue because if you don't have the people
that are working for you, you're not gonna
be able to, you know, produce and grow
your business. So that's one of the biggest
ones and, you know, I think just the
big boom in technology, there's a great
a great time for dentistry. There's a lot
of technologies
that are coming out that are you know,
people are evaluating,
trying to implement into
their practice, and I think it's imperative that
those technologies
are integrated well to help the clinician
and, you know, enhance the patient experience and
yield a great clinical outcome.
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I I completely understand what
you're saying. It seems like every, you know,
executive I speak to kinda says the exact
same thing, at least for this year.
Is there anything that you are most excited
about or anything that is making you nervous,
whether it's something that you're seeing in the
news,
or anything that you're personally experiencing?
Well, I think sort of a little bit
what we you know, what I've reiterated
is, you know, with the
shortage in staffing, the current workforce is under
more strain.
And so I think it's important that doctor
burnout, team member burnout, that that is addressed.
And so I know a lot of the,
you know, DSO have come up with employee
engagement
programs in ways that, you know, team building
activities to help
relieve some of that stress. I mean, we
all know that dentistry is a very personal
business.
So you're constantly
face to face with individuals,
and so it's nice to have an outlet
to, you know, relieve some of that stress
of those, you know, very personal interactions.
I think,
you know, some of the new technologies like,
I look at the scanner,
you know, from, you know, when we got
one probably about 7 years ago, how that
has really changed
in orthodontics, our workflow,
as well as taken off a lot of
work on, you know, the assistance. There's no
more pouring up models.
There's no more tilling bands in the lab.
And on the flip side, for the patient
experience,
they don't have to have that gooey gross
impression. That's what everyone hated. We don't just
fit fans anymore, which would pressure the separators.
So
things like that, the technology that overall enhance
the patient experience and also make the job
of the doctor or team member a little
bit easier.
Or,
you know, team member a little bit easier.
Got it. Got it. Thank you so much
for giving us that explanation. And, doctor, before
I let you go, the last thing I
really wanted to ask you is, what would
the most
effective health care leaders need in order to
be successful in the next 2 to 3
years, do you think?
Yeah. I mean, I think they'll need, you
know, adaptability
to sort of change with the current time
or,
the current landscape sort of from a macro
environment as far as
inflation,
high rates, how that affects the landscape.
They'll need resilience because you're not always
gonna make the right choices or you might
try to implement something and it works for
some people, not others. So you have to
be, you know, resilient to realize you might
fail, but you gotta come up and and
try some new ways that'll make you stronger.
And, you know, I also think creativity, as
I sort of said earlier,
you know, as far as the employers being
able to adapt to, you know, maybe the
workforce not always wanting full time or,
you know, needing certain hours, that's gonna be
crucial, you know, so that they can be
creative in in finding
a team that works for them.
Yeah. Great, great advice. Thank you so much,
doctor, for those final thoughts. It's definitely been
an informative discussion. So, again, I wanna thank
you so much for coming on Becker's HealthCare,
and I look forward to connecting again with
you soon. Thank you so much. Thank you
for the opportunity. Have a wonderful day. Of
course. You too.